Testing Times

The economic slowdown spells trouble for
Europe Inc. Now companies have to worry about restless
shareholders

By

Thomas Knipp Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

Updated June 11, 2001 3:13 p.m. ET

It wasn't meant to be like this. When Mr. Typical European Executive, after long talks with his peers and underlings, sat down early last autumn to draft his company's budget for 2001, he had his sights set on growth -- big-time growth. Expansion was foremost on his mind. Nail the market-leader position at home, he thought, and then go for growth in the soon-to-be Single European Market. After that, who knows? Nice plan. The board of directors thought so too and approved it. Everything was ready to go by the end of December. Mr. Typical European Executive's best-laid plans couldn't have looked better. Then, the sales...